Social networks: American “big tech” is putting the European Union to the test

Faced with frontal attacks from Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, now aligned with Donald Trump, the European Union, which had to refute accusations of “censorship” on Wednesday, must demonstrate that it has the legislative means and the political will to resist to American “big tech”.

However, since the election of Donald Trump in the United States, taking a hard line against Europe, the Brussels executive seems keen not to offend its American ally, while Meta (Facebook, Instagram) has joined Tuesday in his crusade against European regulations. The silence of President Ursula von der Leyen, certainly immobilized at home by pneumonia, but also of her commissioners, was deafening in recent days.

The boss of Meta, in a movement closer to Trump and his supporters, announced that he was putting an end to “fact-checking” within his group in the United States, with no impact in Europe for the moment. Such use of independent verifiers is not an obligation in the EU, but it is a voluntary commitment that can be taken into account by the regulator among the platforms’ efforts to reduce the risks of manipulation of information.

For his part, Elon Musk is increasing his provocations on X by inviting himself into political debates in the United Kingdom and Germany. The billionaire, close to Donald Trump, will participate in a conversation on Thursday with the leader of the German far-right party, AfD, broadcast on X, a month and a half before the legislative elections.

Ms. von der Leyen’s spokesperson, Paula Pinho, justified her silence on Tuesday by the desire not to give more visibility to problematic messages. “By reacting, we also fuel the debate, the political choice for the moment is not to further fuel this debate,” she said.

This apparent passivity provoked an angry reaction from Paris. The head of French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot urged Brussels on Wednesday to protect EU member states against interference in the European public debate. “Either the European Commission applies with the greatest firmness the laws that we have given ourselves to protect our public space, or it does not and then it will have to agree to give EU Member States the capacity to do it,” he said.

“There is undoubtedly a desire not to tackle Trump and Musk head-on, because we are afraid of the reactions,” estimates Alexandre de Streel, expert in digital legislation for the Center on Regulation in Europe (CERRE). “If the Commission opened a procedure against Musk it would add more than fuel to the fire,” also notes Umberto Gambini, partner of the consulting company Forward Global, specializing in European affairs.

According to several sources, von der Leyen’s cabinet recently froze the announcement of a fine against Apple for anti-competitive practices out of concern not to harm transatlantic ties.

An investigation was opened against

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